Meridian is a medium-sized city located in the state of Mississippi. With a population of 33,816 people and 22 associated neighborhoods, Meridian is the eighth largest community in Mississippi.Meridian is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Meridian is a city of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Meridian who work in sales jobs (13.50%), office and administrative support (11.24%), and healthcare (8.35%). One of the benefits of Meridian is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.39 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result. The city of Meridian is a decent size, but despite this, it doesn't have a viable public transit system that people can use to get to work.The education level of Meridian citizens, measured as those with bachelor's degrees or advanced degrees, is similar to the national average for all American cities and towns. 20.22% of adults 25 and older in Meridian have a college degree. The per capita income in Meridian in 2022 was $25,172, which is middle income relative to Mississippi, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $100,688 for a family of four. However, Meridian contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Meridian also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 32.44% of its population below the federal poverty line.Meridian is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Meridian home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Meridian residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Meridian include English, Irish, German, African, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Meridian is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
